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Meet my new favorite potato dish. Oh, those mustard-roasted potatoes were wonderful, weren’t they? And who doesn’t love baked pommes frites? And latkes, they were a force to be reckoned with. But they’re dead to me, or they would be, if in some cruel parallel universe I was to choose only one way to eat potatoes from this day forth.

I blame the 1 1/4 cups of olive oil. I mean, I’m sure not fat-phobic but that there, it is a lot. But what it makes is a sauce that you stir into those lucky, lucky tubers, and it yields twice the volume that you even need for the potatoes (but please don’t halve the recipe, you will regret it as it is as good on these potatoes as it is on meat, fish and your spoon, sneaking tastes).

And what is this here romesco of which I swoon? It is splendid. Chiles (which manage, astoundingly, not to be so much Tabasco-hot, but punchy and bright), a piece of fried bread, peeled tomatoes, garlic, thyme, almonds and hazelnuts are ground with olive oil and the result is, regretfully, like nothing I have ever had before. Busy, loud and hearty, it could be the New Yorker of sauces, um, were it not actually Catalan. Nevertheless, it can escape to here anytime.

This week: We’re on a boat! Thus, comment responses will be slow and spotty. But fear not, new recipes will magically appear as we work through my cooking backlog. See? Everybody wins!

Make the sauce: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Remove and discard the seeds and stems from the chiles, then soak them in warm water for 15 minutes to soften. Strain the chiles, and pat dry with paper towels. Meanwhile, spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast for 8 to 10 minutes, until they smell nutty and are golden brown.

Heat a large sauté pan over high heat for 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoon olive oil, wait a moment (for it to heat) and fry the slice of bread on both sides until golden brown. Remove the bread from the pan and cool. Cut it into 1-inch cubes and set aside.

Return the pan to the stove over high heat. Add 2 tablespoon olive oil and the chiles and sauté for a minute or two. Add the tomatoes. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often until the tomato juices have evaporated. Turn off the heat and leave the mixture in the pan.

In a food processor, pulse together the toasted nuts, garlic and fried bread until the bread and nuts are coarsely ground. Add the chile-tomato mixture and process for 1 minute more. With the machine running, slowly pour in the remaining 1 cup of olive oil and process until you have a smooth purée. Don’t worry, the romesco will “break” (separate into solids and oil); this is normal. Add the parsley, season to taste with lemon juice, sherry vinegar and more salt, if you feel it needs it.

Make the potatoes: Place the potatoes in a roasting pan (I used my 12-inch cast iron skillet, which turned out to be a brilliant idea as I could transfer it to the stove and continue cooking there — highly recommended if you have one) and toss well with 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic cloves, bay leaves, thyme sprigs and a heaping teaspoon of salt. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast the potatoes until tender when pierced (this took 30 minutes for my tiny ones, larger ones may need 50). Discard the bay and thyme and squeeze the garlic out of its skin and set aside.

Either transfer potatoes to a large sauté pan or transfer cast iron skillet to stove-top and heat on high for 2 minutes. Pour in the remaining 2 tablespoons oil (you can get away with 1 tablespoon if you are using the same cast-iron you roasted the potatoes in and it is well seasoned) turn the heat to medium-high and wait 1 minute more. Add the potatoes and smash them with your spatula or a fork until a little broken up. Season with thyme leaves, salt and pepper and sauté them for 6 to 8 minutes until they are crispy on one side. (If they are stuck to the pan, don’t try to move them, they will eventually release themselves). After they’ve browned nicely on the first side, turn them until they color on all sides. Spoon the romesco sauce and reserved garlic over the potatoes and stir. Toss in the parsley. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Do ahead: Sauce can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and kept in the fridge. Use the extra on sandwiches, with cheese, eggs, grilled fish and roasted meats. One the dish is assembled, if you’re not ready to serve it yet, turn off the heat and leave the potatoes in the pan; just before serving reheat for a few minutes and add the parsley at the last minute.

* Guys, I’m chile clueless. It’s pathetic. Kitchen Market — stocking everything, knowing all — once helped me hide this fact from the public, but in their absence, left to fend for myself, I was only able to find something called New Mexico Red Chiles and you don’t want to know how long (very) I spent trying to figure out whether they were hotter or less hot or bigger or smaller than the chiles I was supposed to use. I ended up using 3 instead of 5, and regretting it as the sauce could have had 5 without being more than just moderately hot.

Any suggestions (for this, as well as other Catalan dishes) for an almond substitute? My dear husband is allergic and so I’ve steered clear of romesco sauces despite a love of the region and its cuisine. Could I just double the hazelnuts, you think? It’s sad enough that we can never eat lemon almond polenta cake (REALLY SAD!) but I think this might be something worth trying with a different nut. Thoughts, Deb?

Skinning those hazelnuts — I just toast them for about 8 to 10 minutes at 350. I let them cool a bit and rub them between my hands to get the flaky skin off. I never get it all off but this works for most of them. If you’re not getting any skin off, try toasting them a couple minutes longer. For me, that’s the trick.

Delicious. I usually assume that people used roasted red peppers – the fresh kind. I have never tried with dried ones, especially anchos. But those don’t look like anchos – more like guajillos, which I love love love to use in birria.

Sorry – I didn’t read the asterisk! Ancho chiles are wider (aka ancho) and darker and softer. They probably had a thicker skin when they were hydrated, making them pliable. They have a raison aroma and a sweetness. They are used in many different types of mexican moles. They are not really that spicy.

Do you have tips for getting those skins off the hazelnuts? I tried the whole toasting and rubbing thing for the most labor intensive and frustrating Butternut/Hazelnut lasagna once and nearly killed myself. It there a trick?

Hi Deb! Those peppers you are talking about are called “choricero peppers”, they’re dried, but when refresehd you can scrap the meat off the skin and then use it for million purposes (great on paellas too!). Here the romesco sauce (Spain, I mean) is not that known, although I have had the opportunity to try it with “calçots” and… there are no words for that. Potatoes are another great option. Good choice!!!

I can’t believe it! my favorite food blogger goes and makes a recipe from my home land! I live in the US but i’m actually from catalonia, barcelona. the arroz con leche recipe made me smile but this one is just like… WOOOOOW… i’m so glad this flavors are gonna be expanded through the blogosphere because of you! i love romesco… and you explained it very well!

Thank you Thank you for posting this recipe!! I had just tried romesco sauce on a pizza not too long ago and I fell in love with it – been wondering how to make it for some time. Love your pictures, as always.

In response to Andrea who says we can’t get Yukon Gold in the UK, you can! I live in London and have seen them in a variety of places. Generally they’re on the expensive side (Tesco Finest, that sort of thing) but Whole Foods have had them in the past, as well as my local Sainsburys. And they are bloody delicious!
Otherwise I wouldn’t go for a Maris Piper, a Russet maybe instead?

For the chile-clueless, I have one word: Penzeys! Whether in the store or online, they have *everything.* When I need a particular pepper for a recipe, that I am not sure of the flavor profile, I always order it from Penzeys. And then find other interesting things to do with it.. I’ve made some great discoveries that way.

Those chiles look like the guajillos I used for mole once. They had a shiny smooth skin like those in your picture and I needed to strain them after pureeing because the skin wouldn’t break down completely. I will definitely be making this dish in the near future!

Seconding the comment about Penzey’s. They have pictures of chilies and a heat scale so you can figure out the swap. Plus great prices, great spices, always a freebie when you do mail order, and almost always another freebie if you know the current “secret” code (check retailmenot.com for penzeys.com).

You could always do a plain ole’ Google of the “scoville” heat scale and get the basics for figuring out a chili swap without the Penzey’s excitement.

@Andrea Wallman – A Marfona or similar semi-waxy potato would be nearly the right sort of texture, but they’re a bit big. Charlotte or something like that would probably be your best bet on size and texture. Yukon Gold have a golden, buttery-tasting waxy flesh, so that’s a lot like the Charlottes here in the UK. Maris Piper are a bit on the floury side, I think, but I bet they would still taste good.

For some reason potatoes + tomatoes has eluded me. Why was this combination never conceived in my mind?? Making. This. Tonight. Especially since I have loads of leftover potatoes from the St. Patrick’s day parties I’ve thrown this past week. Goodness.

For those concerned about heat, Romesco is not really a hot sauce. It has some heat and bite, but nothing that anyone other than the absolutely spice-phobic couldn’t handle. It is absolutely addictive and I would top fried eggs with leftover sauce when I made some.
Fingerlings would be good. Just fairly waxy (so no Russets) potatoes that hold their shape well.

What a great pairing idea. I have some leftover Romesco sauce in the freezer (tip: I always make a huge batch when I make it and freeze it in smaller portions) so think I might have to try this for dinner tonight!

Oh Deb, you beat me to the punch! I made a huge tub of romesco sauce from Thomas Keller’s ad hoc cookbook and was just about to post the recipe on my blog! It’s a bit different from this one, but at its soul, I think it’s very similar. There are so many times I feel like you have some sort of ESP on me :) I can’t wait to toss my sauce with some potatoes.

I will HAVE to make these for my boyfriend…he is a potato FIEND! I just made some scalloped that turned out fairly well, despite my long-running resistance to scalloped potatoes (boy have I been missing out!).

And you’re right that sauce does sound like it would go well with just about anything. Have fun cruising or boating or whatever the specifics are that have landed you on a floating object in the water!

Looks amazing! I adore mini yukon gold potatoes – when roasted they have the perfect crispy-outside-to-soft-inside ratio. And I have always meant to make romesco sauce. One of the many things on my list that I just haven’t gotten to – but I’m going to have to get to it soon! I’m dreaming of a steak sandwich with romesco! Yours looks so wonderful! Yum!

I believe I read somewhere that Suzanne Goin has been nominated for a James Beard this year. I’ve been eyeballing the Sunday Suppers cookbook for so long now, I think it’s just about time to buy it. The New Mexico reds would be a nice substitute for the anchos, which are quite mild (so, good choice there). How is it that I’ve never had romesco sauce? Now I won’t be able to sleep for thinking about it….

Ahhhhh romesco. I discovered a pan roasted version of it out of Bon Appetit (I think?) last year, and it has been on everything since. It goes over particularly well as an easy, nibbly, shrimp-cocktail-of-sorts (grilled, as you do it, of course). Funnily enough, I was thinking about putting it on top of an olive oil roasted potato as a fancy schmancy cocktail dealy for my birthday party next month.

As a former New Mexican (living near the chile capital of Hatch, NM) I have to caution that not all of the dried red chiles are mild. They come in varying grades of heat, ranging from mild to extra hot. I have a preference for the hot Sandia variety which is what most of us chile heads use for our sauces.

Just had to make this tonight as I wasn’t sure what I would serve with the lamb I bought for dinner. Kind of had to rush through it, improvising at times, to feed 2 hungry children before heading out to the beach for a late “surf date” for my 5 year old son (that’s what we do here in Australia :)). I’m apparently chile clueless as well as I inadvertently used dried chipotle chiles instead of anchos. The flavor was more “smokey” than bright but still had a wonderful taste and texture. I found I had to use most of the 16 ounce can of tomatoes to keep the sauce from being too dry and adjusted seasoning accordingly. Perhaps too large a piece of bread or too generous measure of nuts? In any case, still amazing!

Wow! I can see why you’re excited. They look pretty damned exciting to me. And they’re a Suzanne Goin recipe too – one of my favorite L.A. chefs. I love her book and now can’t wait to try these. Thanks!

Hi, I don’t know if someone commented on the chillies, but in case you were wondering, yes, the chilies you used are hotter than ancho chillies, which by the way are bigger than the chillies you used. I think I would have made the same adjustments with the chillies (using less instead of more), although I suspect a sauce with ancho chillies would be darker in color and more smokey in flavor. But I love love guajillo chilies (which I suspect you used), so I think you did great by substituting!

Hi, this sounds absolutely wonderful! I would love to try it, but do you think I could leave out the nuts? My husband can’t have any nuts, but I think we would both like this. Thanks!
P.S. I LOVE your site, I’m addicted!

Oh, I love this romesco; it is so tasty and good. Goin rocks my world. I did not, however, think that the whole twice-cooking the potatoes palaver was worth it–at least as a side as SG describes. I did her whole menu with the stuffed leg of lamb, and with just me in the kitchen, all the effort to crispy up the potatoes on the range went to waste b/c they sat around for 15 minutes once they were done. I didn’t QUITE have the wherewithall to get everything done exactly at the same time. Just roasting them, though, is still super delicious.

I think this is a very intersting roasted potato, which I never heard of before, and now I am so anxious to try, and I am going to very soon, and will let you know…Love the sauce so fresh. I bet its delicious on anything.

Those look amazing! I will try them this weekend for sure!!! You note that you used whole tomatoes ( next time would use puree)…..I have always used whole as the tomatoes used for canning whole tomatoes are the most ripe and processed immediatley to capture the fresh, ripe notes. Where as the puree ones are usually the blemished, and or damaged ones processed after the good ones are done. It would be a shame after so much work to not have the best flavor possible.
Thank you for creating this amazing website~

After months of reading your blog religiously, I chose this as my first Smitten Kitchen recipe trial and it did not disappoint. My husband said that they were the best potatoes he had ever had, and my 9-yr. old daughter said that they were “popping” in her mouth. My husband went with “flavor explosion”. I served them with a simple roasted chicken and a spinach salad. Thank you!

Delicious! My boyfriend and I both LOVED these. I have to say, though, I was expecting a little more heat from this sauce than I ended up with. Having never used ancho chilies before I had no idea what to expect, but I’ll know for next time to find a slightly hotter chili in the future. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for running this amazing blog!

We made these tonight and LOVED them. I have been a fan of this site for awhile but this is my favorite recipe to come from it so far. I am a potato fanatic, and honestly, thought I had died and gone to food heaven when I was eating these.

I’m not usually one for potatoes, but this sounds like a delectabl combination of tastes, textures and spices. I am especially intrigued by the mixture of fried bread, toasted nuts, garlic to be made as ramesco sauce.

I’ve been looking at Suzanne Goin’s book in the bookstore yesterday. She’s a genius, and you absolutely did justice to her recipe! Thanks.

I made these last night, as one of several tapas dished, and it was really, really good! I ended up using only half of the olive oil (it just felt like too much oil for me), so the sauce kind of had a pesto texture. I’ll definitely make this again, and I imagine the sauce will be great as a bruchetta topping, maybe together with some serrano ham.

I have been reading this blog for about a year (it’s one of my favourite blogs) and I have tried quite a few of the recipies. Living in Norway, I sometimes have problems finding the ingredients you use, but in most cases I find local substitutes.

I’m making this for a party today and I’m thinking I might have to leave out the final browning step, just because there’s a lot of cooking to do and I won’t have a lot of attention to spare at the last minute, but I’m betting that simply putting the sauce over the roasted potatoes will make for a wonderful dish. I’ll let you know.

We made these the other night. TRULY amazing!!!
The crunchy potato bits, the amazing sauce, the roasted garlic. Wow. These have soared to the top of my favorite potato dish. We did a few changes because of what we had on hand and we were short on time. We simple toasted bread in a toaster, and we used already toasted almonds because that’s all we had. We used pureed tomatoes (Muir Glen organic…so good). Oh, and the chile we used were also some new mexican dried chiles we had. Despite our changes it was an excellent dish. Thanks!

Made these this weekend, and we were swooning in deliciousness! Couldn’t find anchos so the hubs substituted some other fresh red chilis. Worked out great. No problem with oiliness here. Sauce looked exactly like your photo. Spread sauce the next night on salmon, and I nearly passed out over the sheer goodness. Thank you!!

I’m confused, because a couple of you have suggested that anchos are fresh chiles. But my Food Lover’s Companion states, as Jenny mentioned in #105, that anchos are dried poblanos. So are we using fresh or dried chiles here? Or perhaps either will work?

Stacey — They can be either, as in, of course they were once fresh. This recipe is intended for dried. However, I made a different dish last night where I used fresh ones. So it sounds mostly recipe dependent.

I’d never had romesco sauce before, but these potatoes looked good and all over the internet are bloggers singing praises to this sauce.
So, today I made it. At first bite I was not in love. In fact I was rather turned off by the sauce itself, but I pushed on and continued with the potato portion of the recipe. I dutifully topped my smashed fingerlings with this sauce that I *had* to make but didn’t like.
First bite: Okay, so it’s better actually on something.
Second bite: This really isn’t bad.
Third bite: I think I may like this.
Fourt – Oh, where’d my food go?
Thank you for posting this, I’m converted. Delicious.

I made this tonight – absolutely delicious! I used tomatoes from a can of diced tomatoes and chilies because that’s what I had on hand (also balsamic instead of sherry vinegar). Also I used regular sized yukons, but next time I’m definitely going to find some cute little ones – I ran into trouble with the browning step (it didn’t help that my pan was a bit to small). I wasn’t really sure what to do with the roasted (soft) garlic cloves when you add them at the end, so I crushed them up with my fingers. I can’t wait to eat the leftovers for lunch, and I’m going to be dreaming of what to use the remaining sauce on. Thank you!

Made these up the other day and they were a hit. I had Ancho/Pasilla powder on hand and used 2 1/2 -3 tbl. and it was perfect. The Mexgrocer.com stocks it for a very reasonable price and with Trader Joe’s almond meal this sauce was put together in minutes!!! Many thanks.

I’m a big potatoes fan and now we are coming into a new season of potatoes where I live this looks like an excellent dish. Judging by the comments above but some people seem to have found this delicious once cooked. Thanks for sharing

Hot damn! This was excellent! I already have designs on my leftover half of the romesco sauce. My only complaint was that the recipe’s kind of a pain (so many steps, took a long time), especially since my potatoes weren’t tiny. I think next time I might actually boil them – as far as I could tell, they didn’t pick up much flavor from the thyme/bay leaf roast, and I think they’d squish a little better if boiled first (and it would be MUCH faster – I used little red-skinned potatoes, and they still took a good hour in the pan). But argh! so good!

something went horribly wrong for me + this one :- the sauce turned out very pink and dry, even after I added 3 times as many tomatoes. no one liked it :( i think i used way too many nuts, and too large a slice of bread. just a warning — better luck, y’all!

I made this tonight and it was a big hit! Really really good. I made a few substitutions that might be helpful for other readers:
– I used some ripe fresh tomatoes because I didn’t have canned
– I used about half the oil it called for – which was plenty
– I used all almonds and no hazelnuts (I think that might be the traditional way anyways!)
– I used larger Yukon Golds but cut them into smaller pieces – they roasted faster and got lots of nice crispy brown edges on the stovetop
– I didn’t have time for the whole ancho chili part, so I just used canned roasted hot chili peppers and it was totally fine
Thanks again!

WORD OF CAUTION: When sauteeing the chiles (and I used a reduced amount), my boyfriend and I both started coughing like crazy, runny noses, etc. I don’t consider myself to be overly affected by spice as I have sauteed hot peppers before and been fine, so this really caught me off-guard. Anyway, this is pretty delicious, but please take precautions to ventilate your area as much as possible when preparing, just in case.

Oooh…these are delicious. I’m typing with potato on my fingers at the moment–just tore myself away. This recipe is so much easier/tastier than versions that call for tomato and red bell pepper roasting and peeling, etc. The addition of the fried bread was especially inspired. I substituted cilantro for parsley and it still turned out really well. Thanks again so much for posting this and other vegetarian goodies!

This sauce is awesome! I found the chilies in the hispanic cooking section of Vons. They came 5 to a bag (perfect!) and were only around $2 or $3. They arent that hot at all! Just really roasty, warm, tasty! I didnt have hazelnuts so i used walnuts…eh. Next time, I’ll just use double the almonds instead. I also roasted the potatoes in a cast iron and instead of using whole garlic cloves, just tossed the tatoes with a ton of crushed garlic and salt. Very excellent! This sauce is fantastic on toast too!

Yup…I just made more romesco sauce last night and I just used 4 tbs of roasted almonds. Way better! I’m sure its good with hazelnuts too but I couldnt find them at the store. But no need to substitude walnuts. It gives the sauce a bitter/bland quality.

Since I discovered your site last summer, one of my favorite activities is pressing the “random” button. I then proceed to drool while I catch up on the recipes and pictures I’ve missed over the last several years. When I discovered this jewel of a post, I was so delighted. It reminded me of just how much I love Romesco sauce. On potatoes. Toast. Vegetables. Eggs. My finger. So, just wanted to say thanks!

Hi Deb, and readers. I just made the Romesco sauce and it is still quite separated, even after having been processed. When you say that is normal, Deb, do you mean that it will always stay somewhat separated? Do I therefore just have to give a stir before serving? Or maybe I simply didn’t process the sauce long enough… I would love any insight! Many thanks.

This is my new favorite sauce! Thanks for the versatile romesco recipe. I forgot to buy the special chiles at the store and just used three of the regular dried ones I had at home. The sauce wasn’t too spicy at all. My sauce didn’t separate too much but I didn’t use all the oil the recipe called for. I prefer a thicker, more concentrated sauce.

I ended up using only 2/3 of a cup of oil, because it looked like I got your consistency with just that amount. I was a bit concerned when I first took a taste after blending because it didn’t seem that flavorful, but adding the lemon juice and vinegar really brightened it up. And now I have a new favorite sandwich spread.

Wow what an amazing dish! I came across this searching for Yukon Gold potatoes – since I live in the UK.
I know we can get them here in the UK but I want to make a recipe I’ve just this minute seen on TV (barefoot Contessa) and only have Maris Piper potatoes in the house. Think I’ve found my answer here – oh and another delicious recipe I HAVE to make!

I, like Phyllis (#126), used ancho chili powder in lieu of regular anchos and found that I needed to add a smidge more tomato puree–probably a total of 1/2 C–to account for the difference in moisture. It was delicious!

I had just made a romesco sauce yesterday and I was looking for ways to use it. I found this amazing food blog and was immediately drawn to the recipe for Potatoes Romesco. I got straight to work and now am writing this as my mouth waters getting ready to taste it. My friend and I harvested the Yukon Tubers last month and it was perfect timing to say the least. I will be visiting here daily to see and try your style of delectable food. Alchemist, foodies, I love Smitten Kitchen!

No specific comment on the dish du jour. I just wanted to thank you for your website and your writing. I can’t do much with your recipes right now; being rather bed–bound (note to self; don’t fall off your bike). But even laying here, I can read your column and feel in the cooking world again. At the very least, I get a good giggle out of your writing. All in all, it’s a must read for me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

In Catalunya we put romesco everywhere, but mostly on potatoes, lamb, pork, and bread. But my favorite way to eat it is dipping calçots (thick, long catalan sweet onions roasted in a fire o bbq).
We also don’t use hot peppers, we use dried ñora peppers. If you don’t like spicy foods, these just add a tasty peppery flavor. I find them in any specialty store, or spanish stores.
Also, I highly recommend roasting the garlic in the oven first. The flavor is milder and I add 3/4 of a head.

Deb! Have you seen Suzanne Goin’s new cookbook yet (The A.O.C. Cookbook)? It arrived on my doorstep this week, and it looks every bit as amazing as Lucques, and maybe even better, impossible though it seems. I really hope you get this cookbook, in part because I think you will enjoy it, and in part because I’m dying to see you feature some of those recipes on here!

I would slather the romesco on anything. It was absolutely delicious. I used all almonds as I did not have hazelnuts. We served it with sauteed kale and venison tenderloins – complemented and camouflaged the gaminess without over-powering the flavor of the meat.

Wow, this romesco sauce was *amazing*! I made the sauce as described above (I also used dried “New Mexico chiles”, which was all I found at Whole Foods – I used 5, and the spiciness level was good – present, but not crazy hot). For the potatoes, I got lazy and just roasted them at 450 with plenty of olive oil and salt for about 30 minutes – worked well and I would probably do the same next time. Thanks for a great recipe, Deb!

Oh, and I used sliced almonds instead of the combination of almonds and hazelnuts because that’s what I had. I’m sure the half hazelnut version would be great, too, but we didn’t miss anything with the all-almond version. So tasty…

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